Sporting News

STUDENT SPORTS

Culver teams excel during difficult year

Even with all the distractions brought on by the pandemic, several Culver athletic teams and individuals excelled during the fall and winter seasons. From the CGA golf team finishing fourth in the state to the CMA swim and dive team winning its first sectional title in history, records were either broken or extended. And two more CMA hockey players were selected in the NHL draft, including a current senior.

CMA swim and dive team wins its first sectional title in history

Junior Mitchell Schott finished his season with a third place in the 500 freestyle (beating his own school record) and fourth place in the 200 freestyle at the state finals. He also anchored the 200 freestyle relay and 400 freestyle relay teams. Other members of the relay teams were senior Fritz Ellert, sophomores Jacob Mailbach and Cabot Ellert. The 200 free team finished in 13th spot and the 400 free team was 11th in the state preliminaries. Reid Omilian finished his junior year with a 14th place finish in diving at the state. He advanced to the state by finishing sixth at the Valparaiso diving regional and taking first at the Warsaw sectional. Overall, CMA captured its first sectional crown in history, scoring 408 points. That gave the team a 49-point margin over second place Columbia City and a 63.5-point margin over third place Warsaw. CGA advanced five swimmers and one diver to the state finals. Autumn Baumgartner finished her stellar career by qualifying for the 50 and 100 freestyle events and as a member of the 400 freestyle relay team. Emily Heim made her first appearance as an individual, qualifying in the 500 freestyle. She was also a member of the 400 free relay team with Baumgartner, Kari Teglia and Mackenzie Youvan. Claire Feick, in her first year, qualified for state after finishing eighth at the Valparaiso diving regional and second at the Warsaw sectional.

CGA Soccer

The CGA soccer team won its Class 2A sectional with three clean sheets: defeating Plymouth, 3-0; New Prairie 12-0; and Mishawaka Marian, 3-0. The team continued the streak with a 1-0 victory over NorthWood in the first game of the regional before giving up two goals in a 6-2 rout of West Lafayette. The team’s playoff run came to an end with a 1-0 loss to eventual state champion Bishop Dwenger at the semi-state. The team finished the season with a 13-6 record; captured the Northern Indiana Soccer Conference title with a 4-0 record; won its 10th sectional crown and its third regional title. Individually, senior Samantha Hazen was named to the All-District first team and senior Sophia Rotiroti was named to the second team. Hazen has verbally committed to Southwest University and Rotiroti will take a gap year to play and train with Rome City Football Club in Italy. It is part of Italy’s Soccer Management Institute’s program for young players. Rotiroti’s grandfather, Nicola, left Italy at the age of 17 to pursue a professional soccer career in Canada.

CGA Golf

The golf team won its fourth consecutive sectional and third straight regional on its way to the state finals. Led by senior Reese Wilson, who will be attending Howard University, the Eagles shot an overall 648 to finish fourth out of the 16-team field. The team moved up four spots from its 2019 finish, when it placed eighth. Wilson finished the season just as she started. In the season’s first match at the R. Stuart Dickson ’47 Golf Course, Wilson shot a 4-under-par 32 for nine holes, tying the course record she set in 2019. Wilson went on to take medalist honors in every regular season match she played in. She continued the streak by shooting the low score at the LaPorte sectional, leading the team to the title. At the Lafayette Jeff regional, Wilson and teammate Karilyn Teglia shot an 18-hole score of 79 to finish tied for fourth. With teammates Makaski Hatano, Eleanor Teglia, and Kim Yeseul, Culver also won the team title.

Wilson finished her career by firing a two-day total of 149, just 5 over par, finishing in the fourth spot individually.

Varsity A

Varsity A hockey won its fifth consecutive Class 4A state title on March 6. The Eagles defeated the Bloomington Blades 4-2 in the championship. Jordan Larese started the scoring with a power play goal in the second period off an assist from Akora Barbara. Grayson Trede added another goal off an Elan Dillon assist. In the third period, Jack Hamilton scored a short-handed goal off an assist from Samuel Trush and Larese rounded out Culver’s scoring with an unassisted goal. Alexander Szabo was the winning goalie with 24 saves on 26 shots. The Eagles advanced to the title game with wins over Penn in the first round and the Southwest Michigan Blades in the second round.

NHL draft

One current CMA hockey player and a 2019 graduate were selected in the NHL fall draft. Mason Lohrei ’19 was selected by the Boston Bruins in the second round. The 6-foot-4 defenseman was selected 58th overall. He has played for the Green Bay Gamblers in the USHL the past two seasons and is committed to Ohio State for the 2021-2022 season.

Timofey Spitserov ’21 was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the seventh round. The 6-0 right winger was the 210th overall pick. He has verbally committed to the University of Massachusetts. He has also played for the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the USHL.

CGA Volleyball

The CGA volleyball team captured its first sectional championship since 1982, coming from behind to defeat Kankakee Valley 3-2. The team dropped the first two sets of the match, 21-25 and 26-28, before winning the next three, 25-18, 29-25 and 15-8, to claim the title. It was CGA’s fourth volleyball sectional title overall. The team finished the season 20-7.

Wrestling

Eli Pack finished his wrestling career by taking third place at 195 pounds at the state finals. With a season record of 24-2, Pack lost in the semifinal to eventual champion Hayden Flipovich of Indianapolis Lutheran, who finished undefeated at 48-0.

During his tournament run, Pack pinned every opponent but two, scoring major decisions in the final matches of the regional and semistate tournaments. His third-place finish was one notch better than fourth spot his junior year. Sam Suppes also advanced to the regional round, taking fourth at 132 pounds in the sectional. His season came to an end in the first round of the regional.

CMA Tennis

CMA tennis No. 1 doubles team Nate Posner and Paul Wilson made it to the individual state finals before losing in the quarterfinals to Delta. The duo advanced by beating doubles teams from LaPorte and Westfield in the individual regional tournament. The senior duo advanced to the individual regional after winning their match in the team regional. The team lost to Bremen in the regional championship. The Eagles advanced to the championship match by defeating Warsaw in the first round. They won the sectional with wins over North Judson and Rochester.

CMA Football

The Eagles made a deep run in the state playoffs before losing to Logansport in the sectional championship round. Playing all three games on the road, the Eagles defeated Kankakee Valley 21-14 in the first round and neighboring Plymouth 24-14 in the sectional semis. Playing football in November, the Eagles lost 22-14 to the Berries.

Cross Country

The CGA cross country team returned to the state tournament, finishing 21st out of the 24-team field. Senior Lexi Allen finished eighth individually, running the 5-kilometer La Vern Gibson course in Terre Haute in 18-minutes, 28 seconds, placing her on the podium. Other team members were junior Stella Kinney (108), senior Maggie Bialek (124), freshman Celeste Gram (170) senior Elizabeth Strogilios (188) and junior Reese Roemer (194). A total of 204 girls ran at the state tournament. The team advanced by finishing fifth at the New Prairie semi-state. Allen led the team with a fourth place finish, running the 5-kilometer course in 18:45.4. Kinney finished 21st with a time of 19:48.9. Allen took first place at both the sectional and regional levels while the team finished second in each meet.

CMA junior Sam Tullis qualified for the state tournament individually, finishing 155th out of a field of 207 runners. His time was 17:25.5. He advanced by finishing second at the sectional, fifth at the regional, and 11th at the semi-state. As a team, CMA finished second at the sectional, third at the regional, but missed the team cut at the semi-state after finishing 16th.

17 athletes make college commitments

Seventeen Culver student-athletes either signed National Letters of Intent or announced their college commitments during the first National Signing Day in November. Seven different Culver athletic programs were represented: boys and girls hockey, boys and girls lacrosse, wrestling, girls rowing, and girls golf.

Women’s Golf

Reese Wilson, Howard University

Men’s Hockey

Timofey Spitserov, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Women’s Hockey

Zoe Lohrei, Rochester Institute of Technology

Women’s Lacrosse

Lucie Diatta, Dickinson College

Men’s Lacrosse

Gabe Bowen-Slott, University of Denver Nicholas Crouthamel, Babson College Timon English, University of North Carolina Jackson Gray, Duke University Liam Halstead, Swarthmore College Cameron Hitchcock, Dartmouth College Alexander Menendez, Emerson College Braedon Saris, Princeton University Jayden Smith, Bellarmine University Ben Trumble, Colgate University Alec Vaccaro, U.S. Military Academy at West Point

Women’s Rowing

Taylor Lewandowski, Syracuse University

Men’s Wrestling

Elijah Pack, U.S. Military Academy at West Point

About the Photos: Masks or No Masks

Clarification from the Indiana High School Athletic Association: - Volleyball is considered a non-contact sport, so no masks are required. - Wrestlers have been exempted from wearing masks. - Since team shots are shot immediately after a game or match, the previously quarantined athletes are not required to wear masks.